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Setting Up the Environment

This chapter explains how to set up the development and execution environment for the Autonomous Driving AI Challenge 2026 (Racing Kart). It covers verifying the recommended environment, preparing the workspace, and launching Docker and AWSIM.

Changes for 2025 participants
  • rocker is now limited to GUI forwarding; process management uses docker compose.
  • Individual setup steps have been consolidated into a single batch installation procedure.

Environment Setup

First, install the curl package.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install curl

Then run the following command, which performs everything from environment setup to a simulator launch test in one shot.

curl -fsSL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AutomotiveAIChallenge/aichallenge-racingkart/main/setup.bash" | bash

Re-running the setup

If you already have the repository, you can run the script directly instead of using curl.

cd ~/aichallenge-racingkart
./setup.bash bootstrap

What this single command does (regarding the virtual environment)

The following describes what setup.bash performs interactively, step by step. Open only the steps you need to review.

1. Install required packages

Installs the essential base packages.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y python3-pip ca-certificates curl gnupg
2. Install Docker

Adds the official Docker repository and installs Docker itself.

sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
Verify that Docker is working correctly.

sudo docker run hello-world
If you see "Hello from Docker!", the installation was successful.

3. Install rocker

Installs rocker (used for GUI forwarding) and adds it to PATH.

pip install rocker

If ~/.local/bin is not in your PATH, add it.

echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
4. Register Docker group

Adds your user to the Docker group so you can run Docker without sudo.

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker
5. Prepare repository

Clones the competition repository and runs a pre-check.

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/AutomotiveAIChallenge/aichallenge-racingkart.git
cd ~/aichallenge-racingkart
6. Verify repository

Checks that the repository exists correctly.

./setup.bash doctor
7. Pull Autoware image

Pulls the Autoware base image required for execution.

docker pull ghcr.io/automotiveaichallenge/autoware-universe:humble-latest
docker images

If the Docker image was downloaded successfully, you will see output like this:

REPOSITORY                                        TAG                       IMAGE ID       CREATED         SIZE
ghcr.io/automotiveaichallenge/autoware-universe   humble-latest             30c59f3fb415   13 days ago     8.84GB
8. Download/extract AWSIM data

Downloads AWSIM from SharePoint and extracts it to the designated directory with execute permission.

  1. Download the latest AWSIM.zip from the link below.

Download AWSIM

mkdir -p ~/aichallenge-racingkart/aichallenge/simulator
unzip ~/Downloads/AWSIM.zip -d ~/aichallenge-racingkart/aichallenge/simulator
chmod +x ~/aichallenge-racingkart/aichallenge/simulator/AWSIM/AWSIM.x86_64
  1. Confirm the executable exists at the following path.
ls ~/aichallenge-racingkart/aichallenge/simulator/AWSIM/AWSIM.x86_64
  1. Refer to the figure below for the expected permissions.

Permission change

For GPU use, extract AWSIM_GPU_**.zip instead.

9. Build development image

Builds the Docker image for development.

cd ~/aichallenge-racingkart
./docker_build.sh dev
10. Build workspace

Builds the Autoware workspace.

cd ~/aichallenge-racingkart
make autoware-build
11. Launch AWSIM + Autoware → confirm stop with make down

Launches the simulator and Autoware, then stops them after confirming.

cd ~/aichallenge-racingkart
make dev
make down

Reading the Setup Screen

  • When Select branch [default: main]: appears, select main (or just press Enter)
  • [y/N] confirms whether to run each step (normally answer y)
  • Starting execution... means setup is running automatically
  • To stop: make down means the launch check is complete
[setup] ℹ️ Bootstrap mode (fresh host)
[setup] Available branches (remote):
[setup]   1) dev
[setup] Select branch [default: main]: main
[setup] ℹ️ Planned steps (answer y/N for each, then execution starts):
[setup]   1) Install base packages (apt)
[setup]   2) Install Docker (if missing)
[setup]   3) Install rocker (pip)
[setup]   4) Add user to docker group (recommended)
[setup]   5) Clone/update repository (branch=main) -> $USER/aichallenge-racingkart
[setup]   6) Repo preflight: ./setup.bash doctor (requires repo)
[setup]   7) Create .env (GPU/CPU auto-detect)
[setup]   8) Pull Autoware base image (requires repo)
[setup]   9) Download AWSIM.zip and extract (requires repo)
[setup]  10) Build dev image: ./docker_build.sh dev (requires repo)
[setup]  11) make autoware-build (requires repo)
[setup]  12) make dev DOMAIN_ID=1 (requires repo)

When [y/N] appears, enter y if there are no issues.

[setup] Install base packages (apt) [y/N]: y
[setup] Install Docker (if missing) [y/N]: y
[setup] Add user to docker group (recommended) [y/N]: y
[setup] Clone/update repository (branch=main) -> $USER/aichallenge-racingkart/aichallenge-racingkart [y/N]: y
[setup] Run repo preflight: ./setup.bash doctor [y/N]: y
[setup] Pull Autoware base image [y/N]: y
[setup] Download AWSIM.zip and extract [y/N]: y
[setup] Build dev image: ./docker_build.sh dev [y/N]: y
[setup] Run make autoware-build (this can take a while) [y/N]: y
[setup] Run make dev DOMAIN_ID=1 [y/N]: y
[setup] ℹ️ Starting execution...
[setup] ℹ️ Running: Install base packages (apt)

After this, just wait about 5 minutes. Grab a coffee while you wait.

☕

When setup is complete, AWSIM and Autoware will launch with output like the following.

Start dev simulation (AWSIM + Autoware, DOMAIN_ID=1)
make[1]: ディレクトリ '$USER/aichallenge-racingkart' に入ります
Start AWSIM
SIM_MODE=dev docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.gpu.yml up -d simulator
[+] up 1/1
make[1]: ディレクトリ '$USER/aichallenge-racingkart/aichallenge-racingkart' から出ます         0.5s
make[1]: ディレクトリ '$USER/aichallenge-racingkart/aichallenge-racingkart' に入ります
Start Autoware for AWSIM
RUN_MODE=awsim DOMAIN_ID=1 docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.gpu.yml up -d autoware
[+] up 1/1
 ✔ Container aichallenge-2026-autoware-1 Created                           0.2s
make[1]: ディレクトリ '$USER/aichallenge-racingkart/aichallenge-racingkart' から出ます
To stop: make down  (docker compose down --remove-orphans)

AWSIM and Autoware are now running. autoware-awsim To stop, run the following command.

cd ~/aichallenge-racingkart
make down

This completes the environment setup and operation check.

  • If AWSIM does not launch or has rendering issues, check your GPU settings.
  • If you are ready to start developing, see the development guide.